Our Souls Collide
by kindellfire
Summary: A series of one shots revolving around Soma and other minor pairings.
1. Chapter 1

Soul cursed quietly as he stubbed his toe while walking down the dark hallway towards the bathroom. Once he had relieved himself, he set about making his way back to bed without maiming himself. Passing by Maka's room, he noticed a faint light escaping from underneath her closed door. He knocked quietly before opening the door a fraction (the last time he had opened the door all the way, she was only half dressed and he'd received a near fatal Maka chop). Peering in, he could see her slouched frame sitting at her desk. He opened the door a bit wider and stepped in, noticing that she hadn't stirred at his entrance. She was slumped over the top of her desk, books and papers strewn around her head like some nerdy halo. He shook his head as he picked up one of the papers, it was an assignment from Stein, but hell, it wasn't even due for another three weeks! This girl was going to work herself to death if she kept this up. He gently picked her up (an easy task considering she weighed almost nothing; he'd need to start making sure she ate more) and moved her over to her bed. He peeled her sheets back and placed her down before pulling the covers back up to her neck. He straightened up her desk so it would be ready for use when she inevitably started working again. He stood up to leave but paused, he looked around like a guilty child and then pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, blushing like a cool guy never would. He flipped her desk lamp off and left quietly back to his own bed.

Early the next morning Maka woke up under her soft covers confused. Hadn't she just been at her desk? But she realized that muted sunlight was filtering through her window, she must have fallen asleep. It still didn't explain why she was in her bed; she didn't remember moving. She sat up and looked over to where her homework should have been scattered about. She found it stacked neatly with her textbooks bookmarked to the pages they had been open too. A sticky note on top of the stack read in sloppy handwriting: Go back to sleep, you need it, bookworm. _Ah_ , Soul must have put her to bed at some late hour of the night. Still tired, she was inclined to follow the instructions of his note. She wrapped her blanket around herself and padded silently to his slightly ajar door. She entered his messy room, stepping over dirty clothes she made her way over to his bed. He lay facing the wall, his white hair the only thing poking out from the covers. She added her blanket to his own pile of sheets and climbed under to join him. She paused briefly before pressing a kiss to the top of his head before settling down beside him. He was warm and she was already half asleep when he rolled over and threw an arm around her waist, she merely pushed her head into his chest and let his breathing lull her back to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

_What had he gotten himself into?_ Soul stood, brooding in the corner of the living room, _his_ living room. He watched as his apartment filled with more people. Some were dancing to the obnoxiously loud techno blasting from the speakers, other sitting on his couch; either way they were all drinking and they were all getting rowdy. He groaned and again wondered how it had come to this. A flash of blue appeared in his line of sight and was followed by a shouting voice. "HEY SOUL, IT IS YOUR GOD BLACK*STAR, SWEET BACHELOR PARTY MAN!" Soul's eyes narrowed into a glare at his best friend as he recalled the events leading up to this. Only a few short months ago, Black*Star had finally asked his longtime girlfriend, Tsubaki, to marry him. He had then demanded that Soul throw him 'the Godliest party a mortal could arrange' (Black*Stars words, not his). So here he was, with tons of people in his apartment, loud and drunk people. He was about to tell his friend off and send everyone home when a knock on the door distracted him. He scowled before heading over and swinging it open, snapping out "Look, I'm sorry, but there's just too many people here, you'll have to go ho-" he abruptly stopped. Green eyes met his with a raised eyebrow. She was dressed in police gear and her hair was tied into signature pigtails. "Maka, what are you doing here?" confusion written all over his face. She lived in his apartment complex, two floors above him, and they occasionally ran into each other and would talk in the lobby of their building. On another occasion, she had responded to a break in that he'd had about a year ago. She was a Death City police officer (something that made him both laugh and concerned due to her size) and she had busted through his front door gun ablaze and ready for action only to be meet with Soul standing in the middle of his trashed living room, wide eyed and hands up in defense at her entrance.

In fact, he thought she was supposed to be working tonight too- _oh wait_ , now he got it. He sighed and looked over his shoulder at that room full of rowdy people dancing to a heavy bass song. "I'm in trouble, aren't I?"

She gave him a flat stare, "I've gotten 5 different complaints in the twenty minutes it took me to drive over here."

Soul rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry, I somehow got roped into throwing my best friends bachelor party, and he is very 'go big or go home' and at this point, I really just want everyone to go home."

Maka opened her mouth as if to respond but was cut off by a loud voice that vastly overpowered the noise of the music and drunk people all together.

"YAHOO! SOUL, WHO'S AT THE DOOR?!" he paused briefly enough to take in Maka's small form. And then, "SOUL, I DIDN'T THINK YOU'D GET A STRIPPER! OH MAN, YOU KNOW HOW TO PLEASE YOUR GOD, I KNEW I COULD TRUST MY MOST LOYAL FOLLOWER!"

Soul's mouth hung open and he cast a cautious glance back at Maka (he knew the physical strength she could enforce when angered). She looked one part surprised, one part angry, one part mortified, and all parts red. The mix of emotions swirling around her madly blushing face actually looked pretty cute, but Soul pushed the thought out of his head, he had bigger things to worry about. Things like how Black*Star had grabbed Maka's wrist and was dragging her inside and screaming something about a police stripper. Things like how her free hand was twitching dangerously close to the gun on her hip.

Soul swung the door closed and rushed toward his friend who was attracting a small group of males with his advertisement of 'stripper'. He pushed his way through until he was standing next to Maka, blocking her from some of the partygoers.

"You idiot, she is NOT a stripper! She's an actual police officer, and she's probably about five seconds away from arresting your ass!" he scowled.

Black*Star looked confused before his intoxicated brain finally understood. He quickly let go of her wrist and put his hands up in surprise. "I GUESS THAT EXPLAINS WHY SHE HAS TINY TI-!"

Soul groaned as the butt of Maka's gun sent his friend's head straight into the ground. Great, now he'd have to clean beer _and_ blood out of his carpet. He pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers as Maka looked smugly at Black*Star who was writhing on the floor.

She glanced up at him, "You know, I have a way to solve both our problems." Soul raised an eyebrow at her suggestion.

"You have my attention," he said, interested in what she had to offer.

"I can break up the party. It gets them out of your place and I won't get more noise complaints which keeps me from having to fill out more paperwork," she directed her glare toward him at the last part.

"Sounds good short stuff," he replied. She puffed out her cheeks at him but didn't remark. Instead, she maneuvered toward the stereo and promptly unplugged it.

"Okay everyone, party's over, time to go home. Anyone who objects will be charged with disturbing the peace!" She yelled with a voice that contradicted her size, it worked however, people started to slowly filter out of the apartment. Even Black*Star disappeared with a certain silence that he was hardly ever capable of; it was probably due to his head wound.

Soul shoved some empty bottles of beer off his couch and into a trash bag before dropping down on it. He leaned back, eyes closed, enjoying the silence. "Thanks for that Maka," he said, glancing around for her. His eyes landed on her, in the center of the living room popping open the tab of a leftover beer. His jaw dropped, "Hey, I don't think you're supposed to drink on the job!"

She grinned sheepishly at him. "My shift just ended ten minutes ago. To be honest, I took this call so I could take care of it and get home quicker. I was really hoping to settle in with some Netflix tonight."

"Rough shift?" he asked, motioning that she could join him on the couch. She sat next to him and took a long pull of beer. "Let me put it this way, coming here to be mistaken for a stripper by some noisy drunks has been the highlight of my day," she said grinning over at him.

"Glad to be of service. You're welcome to stay and finish that beer, I can throw on some Netflix," he smirked, even as his mind wondered where the hell that had come from. He wasn't really sure why he was asking to stay after he'd been more than happy to kick everyone else out.

She looked surprised but nodded anyway.

They spent the next few hours drinking cheap beer and surfing through shows, commenting on the ones they liked and disliked. It was late in the night when she pushed herself off his couch and he opened the door for her to leave.

"We should do this again sometime," she said as she stepped out into the hall. Maybe it was the brighter lighting playing tricks on him, but he could have sworn she was blushing lightly.

He smiled back. "Yeah, we should."

"You know, I still have to ticket you for all the noise complaints, right?"

" _Goodnight_ , Maka" he laughed while closing the door.

"I wasn't kidding!" she laughed back as she walked away.

Soul sighed behind his closed door. _What had he gotten himself into this time?_

 **Based off a prompt:** **Imagine person A is a cop coming by person B's house because of noise complaints and is mistaken for a cop of the stripper variety.**

 **Thanks you to everyone reading and reviewing!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Trigger Warning: Character death and angst.**

 **Disclaimer: I would also like to point out that I obviously don't own Soul Eater (but lets face it, I wish I did).**

"Maka, we have to run _now_!" Soul was barking at her from the other side of the drug store.

"I know! I just need to grab the medication for Patty, we can't leave without it!" she yelled back as she darted away from him and gracefully vaulted over the pharmacy counter. Soul sprinted to join her, sliding to a halt in front of a row of medication. He talked as he scanned the boxes.

"The fences around the this part of town must have gotten compromised, the number of zombies out there is increasing and if we don't get the fuck out of here soon we are probably going to join their legion of the undead!"

"Thanks for the lecture," she muttered sarcastically, "just help me find the damn stuff."

It was just supposed to be a quick supply run to pick up asthma medication. The youngest in the group, Patty, had been having breathing trouble for the past week since the last dosage ran out. The number of walkers in the street seemed unusually high, but it wasn't until a large horde of them shuffled by followed by several more stray ones, that they realized something was wrong.

"Here!" Maka held the medication up like a prize before shoving in her knapsack.

"Good, now let's move," Soul muttered, grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the front. Maka nearly smacked into him when he stopped frozen at the front of the store. A group of walkers were pressed up against the glass doors. For half a second Maka did not panic because there was no way the walkers could break the glass of the doors, they would just have to sit tight until the group continued on. But then a small voice in the back of her head whispered _the doors here open inward_.

"Shit!" she screamed, right as the weight of the bodies pushed the doors in and they staggered toward them. Pulling her knife from her boot she caught the first one in the forehead and the second swing hit the side of a jaw. A third zombie was aiming for Soul and she knew her knife, nor the knife he was drawing, could get to its head in time. Taking in a breath, she closed their distance and landed a kick into the walker's stomach, effectively sending it backwards and to the ground.

She turned her head just in time to catch Souls horrified eyes before the last two zombies of the group reached out with their bloody fingers to grasp at her clothing and shoulder. She screamed as they pulled at her, taking her away from Soul. She writhed in their grasp when they suddenly fell, taking her down with them. She could feel a sudden searing pain at her shoulder, but it barely register before a bullet was fired off, quickly succeeded by another one. The bodies behind her instantly stilled. Maka's ears were ringing so loudly from the gunshots that she couldn't even hear Soul distraughtly asking if she was okay. Not that it really mattered, she understood what he wanted to know without needed to hear the words.

She smiled up at him weakly and nodded. Holstering his gun, he swiftly but gently pulled her up and pointed to the street, aware she probably couldn't hear him. She instantly realized that the sound of the gun was drawing more zombies and they needed to move fast. Soul was already turned around, dragging her by the hand to what she assumed would be a back exit. As they maneuvered through the long abandoned drug store Maka cast a glance over her shoulder. She could feel the blood seeping through her shirt and now she could see her torn clothing and the raw wound just below the top of her shoulder. She tried not to think about the implications and focused on staying a step behind Soul as he kicked out a back door and scoped out the alley. They at least needed to make it to safety before he found out otherwise his life would likely be endangered too. So she ignored the burning of her ripped flesh and ran behind him as he stabbed any walker that got too close.

The sun was reaching its peak in the sky when they finally stopped in a forest outside the town. They were both doubled over panting from the sprint. Maka immediately dropped to the cool ground and leaned back against a tree, concealing her wound. Soul planted himself beside her "I think we should be safe to rest for a minute. Camp is still going to be another two hour walk, we better recharge while we can. Who knows how many walkers have made it into the woods by now, we might have to make another mad dash."

Maka tilted her head back and made a soft hmm noise. Her face remained blank but on the inside she felt like she was drowning in panic, she didn't want it to happen like this. The one redeeming thought holding her together was that at least Soul was okay. As long as he made it, that was what mattered more, _that_ would be worth it. She cared so much for him, and if she had to die for him to live, she'd gladly do it again and again.

"Hey, Maka, you okay? You look really red," Soul's voice pierced her thoughts. It was probably the fever setting in but she passed it off on the running they'd been doing and hoped he didn't see through her lie. He was usually too observant for her to lie to him and get away with it. But he accepted it and they settled into silence.

"Hey Soul?" Maka asked him suddenly. He cracked an eye open at her wobbly voice but she was staring at the sun filtering through the tree tops. "Do you remember how we met?" she said despite his silence. Now he had both eyes open in surprise, his head tilted towards her. "Of course I do, it's not every day a beautiful badass girl swoops into to rescue me," he smirked over at her and she laughed quietly. He noticed her smile turned into a light frown. "Will you tell me the story then?" she asked quietly. Something in his gut twisted, where the hell was this coming from?

"Oh, um, sure, if you want," he paused before taking her hand in his. "Well, it was about two years I guess. I was alone after being separated from my family in the evacuation and I, being a complete dumbass," he watches her smile return at this, "was walking around the town looking for supplies or anyone alive. I somehow managed to get surrounded by the walkers and I knew I couldn't take them all out with my knife. And all of the sudden, a girl with pigtails comes charging at me with a baseball bat and starts taking shots at the zombies until she knocked all of them down and I finished them off with the knife. And then, after I finished puking my guts out, you pulled me to my feet and dragged me back to a group of kids who had also been left behind. I got to meet the loudest idiot named Black*Star and also poor Tsubaki, I'll never understand how she puts up with him. After a few weeks we picked up Kidd, Liz and Patty. Then I fell completely head over heels over you and for some reason you had a thing for dumbass boys with white hair and red eyes," he was blushing by the end part, but _it was_ the best part of the story in his opinion.

He glanced over at her, she was smiling but it didn't reach her eyes which were overflowing with tears. He sat up, startled by the tears that she hardly ever shed in the time he'd known her. "Hey, hey! What's wrong?" He tried to pull her into a hug when he felt a sticky liquid cover his palm. Bringing it back towards himself he stared frozen and the dark layer of blood. "You know," she started in a thick voice "I knew from the first day I saw you standing in the middle of that horde, that you were something special. And I would never trade anything for the days I got to spend with you." She was crying now, little hiccups sounded in the empty air as Soul's mind tried to keep up.

He slowly looked up to her, "No, Maka, no, no, _no_. No, this isn't happening. You must have slammed into something and cut yourself," his eyes were growing panicked as he finally grasped the reality of the situation. His howls of anguish echoed into the forest and he was vaguely aware of Maka's hand pressing over his mouth in an attempt to keep him quiet. She pulled his head to her chest and stroked his hair as his tears soaked through her shirt.

"Shh, it'll be okay, I promise. It's all going to be okay," she whispered to him as her tears dried, hoping her voice held some confidence in it. Her body was beginning to ache and she knew it was only a matter of hours. "Soul, I need you to do something for me," she paused to make sure he was listening, "I need you to keep living. Please, I want to go knowing that you won't be a reckless dumbass because I'm gone. Can you please do that for me?" His only response was to cry harder as he pressed a kiss to her temple. "There is one more thing," she hesitated for a moment, "I-I want you to do it. I don't want to turn." He looked at her with anguish that she didn't imagine existed, even in this new world. His face was taut as he gave a sharp nod. He knew that she'd do it for him. She leaned her head against him, "I love you, Soul Evans." "I love you too, Maka Albarn," he sounded strangled but at least the words came out. She maneuvered herself so she could put her head in his lap. She was feeling tired and cold from the illness coursing through her. "Will you keep telling me stories?" she asked into his jeans. He stiffened, but started talking around the lump in his throat anyway. He recounted the adventures of their little group. Sometimes she'd laugh at something stupid Black*Star had done, or smile slightly about how the sisters had done something cute. Sometimes he would talk about his old life and sometimes he would just tell her how much he loved her. It was nearing dusk when he asked if she remembered when Tsubaki cooked them Christmas dinner last year with cans of spam and beans. She didn't answer and his heart nearly stopped before she took a shaky breath. "Tell them, tell them that I'll miss them and I couldn't ask for better friends," she whispered, "and I love you so, _so_ much." Tears slid down his face as he reassured his love for her and continued to babble on until her breath stopped soon after. He cried over her body and pulled her close, trying to continue his stories between his sobs. He knew he had to act soon though, it had been one of her last request and for her sake he would come through. He finally laid a final kiss to her forehead and separated himself from her. He shakily pulled out his knife, only because it would leave less a mess on her still beautiful head. He cried angrily as he tilted her head forward and positioned the knife behind her head at the base of her skull.

He arrived back at camp hours later in the dark. How he managed to stumble back with her on his back while crying and not run into any walkers was beyond him. Maka was probably still trying to enforce her will over him even as she watched over him from somewhere else. _She would_ make sure he stayed alive. The thought almost made him smile bitterly, but his friends were rushing from the campfire towards him now. They froze as he continued walking her still body, stopping a small distance away from their tents, he lay her down gently. He walked past his friends and grabbed a shovel from their storage. He began to dig mechanically next to her. He vaguely remembered hearing the cries of the girls and then Black*Star and Kidd grimly join him in digging. The night was heavy with poorly concealed sobs.

The following morning, they found Soul curled up by her grave, a gun next to his side and one of Maka's favorite books clutched in his arms. Dried tear tracks streaked though the dirt on his face. They solemnly left his to sleep a little longer.

 **A/N: Thank you all for your support! I'll hopefully have some more stuff posted in the next few days!**


	4. Chapter 4

Soul winced as the apartment door clicked shut louder than he'd anticipated. He sighed as he kicked off his shoes and dropped his suitcase and jacket by the front door. Maka would probably throw a fit in the morning about his mess, but he couldn't find it in himself to care. He glanced at his watch, it blinked back 2:47am. He was happy he was back a day and a half early from his mission, but it was still too early for his liking. His Death Scythe status, while cool, often pulled him away from Maka to assist Stein when Spirit wasn't available. His back ached from being in weapon form for the better part of the past week and his soul also felt strained from the lack of contact with Maka's wavelength. He missed her so much he didn't even realize that he had slipped into a light resonance with her upon entering their home. Her wavelength washed over him in gentle pulses, making his shoulders relax and his eyes droop just a bit more. He moved through the living room with every intention of falling straight into his bed when a rustling noise made him pause. He turned on the lamp sitting beside the couch. On top of said couch was his meister with a blanket, _his_ blanket, covering half of her while the rest pooled onto the floor. He groaned quietly, all he wanted to do was sleep, but he couldn't very well do that without his blankets and Maka would surely hurt her back sleeping here all night. Maka shifted on the couch, rolling all the way onto her back which caused the rest of her covers to slip onto the ground. Now that he could see her fully, he noticed she was wearing his favorite shirt, the orange one that read 'piano man'. She also had on a pair of his gym shorts that swallowed her thin legs. He couldn't help looking at her, she was undeniably cute with her pigtails askew and her lips pated slightly. Suddenly her eyes blinked open, squinting against the light from the lamp. Soul blushed and redirected his glance, hoping he hadn't been caught openly staring.

"Soul?" she mumbled, voice thick with sleep.

"Yeah, it's me, sorry to wake you up," he whispered back to her, "You should really move to your bed or your back is going to hurt." She looked at him, eyes focusing just a bit more.

"No, 'm fine right here," she responded, "You're home early?"

"Yeah, we finished up early, I just got in."

She made a noise of acknowledgment before closing her eyes again. "That's good."

He sighed once more, he knew his back would kill him in the morning for this, not cool. He flipped off the light and flopped onto the couch, forcing her to scoot over. He grabbed the blanket from the floor and tossed it over both of them.

"What are you doing?" her confused voice cut through the darkness.

"You have my blanket, and since you refuse to move, I'm staying here," he said as he snuggled his head into her hair and closed his eyes. He couldn't see her face but he was sure he could feel something close to embarrassment pass through their link. He smirked to himself, he decided to push his luck a little further before he drifted off.

"Any reason you're in _my_ clothes?" he asked. Her end of the link flared with a mix of guilt and slight shame.

"I-I just…" she stuttered before sighing loudly "Ijustmissedyou!" she rushed before pulling the blanket over her head.

Soul held back a laugh, he didn't feel like being hit tonight. "I missed you too, nerd." He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer and started to let himself be lured to sleep by her wavelength.

"Hey Soul?" she asked from under her covers. He hummed in response.

"I'm glad you're back," she whispered as she moved closer to him.

He smiled into her hair "Me too."


	5. Chapter 5

_It's all your fault_. The words echoed around in her head a few times until her eyes opened. She sat up, looking around and trying to figure out where she was. It appeared to be an alley in an unfamiliar town. Had she been fighting a kishin? Well, if she was here Soul probably wasn't too far off. She stood and scanned the alley way for her partner. She found him crouched in the back corner, huddled under the only streetlight this dead end had to offer. Relieved, she rushed over to him, hoping that he wasn't injured.

"Soul! Soul, are you okay? We should probably get out of he-"the words died on her lips as his head swiveled at her voice. His eyes were wide and frantic and a manic grin split his face. His burgundy eyes meet her green ones and he broke out in hysterical laughter. She took an involuntary step back and he pulled himself up to full height. His fit of laughter rang out in the eerily silent air around them for a few more seconds before it cut off abruptly and he was looking at her with a grave seriousness.

"This is all your fault," he hissed at her, taking a step closer to her.

"Soul, what? I don't understand. What is my fault?" she was confused and as much as she didn't want to admit it, she was scared of her partner in this moment.

He lunged toward her, grabbing her shoulders roughly and started screaming at her.

"It's your fault. You are the reason it hurts!"

He pushed her away from him and what she saw made her want to throw up. Blood as black as tar was seeping through his white shirt at an alarming rate. What was worse, it was flowing down in a diagonal line from his shoulder to hip; right were his scar was.

" _This_ , this is all because of you," he sneered at her, eyes hooded under the hair falling in his face. A bright flash of light emanated from him briefly and then dissipated. In place of his arm was a long scythe blade.

"Soul, please stop," her voice was quivering as she tried to force resonance with him but was met with nothing.

"Soul, please stop!" he mocked back at her in a falsetto. "You know what? I think I should give you a scar to match!" he started to laugh madly again as he swung his scythe arm towards her. She jumped back several steps, trying to put some distance between them so she could assess the situation. If the black blood had taken over, she would need to incapacitate him long enough to figure out how to resonate with him and purge the madness. The only problem was that it would be nearly impossible to get close enough to land a hit while he was partially transformed and she was weaponless. She was broken out of her thoughts as Soul started to charge her, a sadistic glint in his darkened red eyes. Maka somersaulted to the right and used her momentum to launch herself into a run. She wasn't sure where she was going but she needed time to formulate a plan. She heard the metal of his scythe strike the concrete where her body had previously been standing. Darting out of the mouth of the ally, she glanced around, trying to find anything that looked familiar. For the life of her, she couldn't figure out where they were or why they were there in the first place. She supposed that at the moment it didn't really matter, she could hear Soul only paces behind her. He was still chuckling darkly and occasionally he would sing her name out. This was bad, she couldn't keep running forever.

She took a sharp turn to her left and her eyes widened as she slid to a stop. A dead end; and not only that, it was the same dead end they had started in. _How had she wound up back here?_ She turned to face her pursuer who was now effectively trapping her.

"End of the line, Albarn," he sneered at her. The majority of his body was now dripping with black blood. He gave her a wicked smile as he advanced on her.

"Soul, no! Why are you doing this?!" she shrieked at him, stepping back only to be met by a solid wall.

" _Why?_ " he echoed. "Because _this_ ," he dragged the tip of his scythe along the line of his scar, tearing his shirt and revealing the oozing wound that was bloody and raw, "should be on you. You should be the one suffering, dying, being plagued by madness. It's all your fault!" he screamed at her.

A tear that had gathered at the edge of her eye dropped.

"I'm so sorry, Soul" she whispered. His gaze seemed to soften momentarily and her shoulders relaxed, maybe she had gotten through to him. But it was quickly replaced by a sadistic grin.

"You should be," he snarled, taking a final step and stabbing toward her.

She could hear animalistic screaming before she even felt the pain. She stared down at her abdomen in horror, seeing how the tip of the scythe was buried in her. The screaming got louder and she realized it was her producing the sound as Soul slashed and hacked at her body. Her vision was going dark and she realized she couldn't breathe anymore.

Her eyes flew open and her body jackknifed upwards right as a door to her left flew open revealing Soul with a partially transformed arm. She screamed again as he moved toward her.

"No, no, nooo!" she shrieked at him as she sought to move back. She found herself falling however and landing roughly on the other side of her bed.

 _Wait, her bed?_

"Maka?! What the hell, are you okay?" she could hear Soul yelling as he rushed over to her. His arm flashed back and left a smooth tan arm in its place. He crouched in front of her, concerned eyes examining her for injury.

"Maka, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" she could detect his panic poorly concealed by his calm tone. She looked up at his face, noting it lacked any trace of insanity or madness. He also wasn't covered in blood, in fact, he was wearing pajamas, a very much healed scar poking out of his shirt collar. She glanced down at her stomach which was devoid of any injury.

She shook her head silently at him. He helped to pull her up and sit her back on her bed. She could feel herself shaking. Soul must have taken notice too because he wrapped her blanket around her and pulled her into a hug.

"Are you okay?" he asked again.

"I-I'm okay," she let out a shaky breath. "Why did you bust in here like that?"

He looked at her as if she was crazy. "You kept trying to resonate with me. Your wavelength was going haywire and then you started screaming something awful. You sounded like you were being attacked, so I rushed in here transformed just in case," he paused to look at her. "Why were you screaming like that?" he asked her quietly.

Her dream flashed backed to her vividly. She looked away, she felt ashamed that he had been the cause of her anguished cries. He was her best friend, her partner, and her Soul would never blame her for what happened. She didn't want him to know that she dreamt he had killed her.

"It was just a nightmare, I barely even remember it," she lied quickly. She could tell by the look on his face that he didn't believe her for a second. She sighed, deciding he would probably drag it out of her sooner or later so she might as well comply.

"I dreamt that you were consumed by the madness, and you said it was my fault that you have your scar and the black blood," she folded in on herself a bit and added on in a whisper, "and then you tried to kill me."

His mask of indifference was betrayed by their resonance which told her he was surprised and a tiny bit hurt by this. He hugged her a bit tighter.

"You know that isn't at all what I think, right?" he murmured into her hair.

"Yeah, I know that."

"And I would never do that."

"I know that too," she let a small smile grace her face before yawning.

"Do you want to go back to sleep?" he asked, stifling his own yawn.

She hesitated before answering. "Yes. Will you stay with me?" she asked timidly.

"Do you really want me to?!" he asked incredulously. "After _that_ nightmare."

She pulled him down to the spot beside her and adjusted the blanket to cover both of them.

"I know the real you would never ever do something like that, you're 'too cool' for that. I have nothing to be afraid of," she said, closing her eyes and enjoying the feeling of his soul next to hers.

He let out a small chuckle. "You know it, bookworm," he smiled down at her before closing his own eyes. They drifted off peacefully and slept soundly until the next morning.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: So sorry about the late update. Here is a short drabble inspired by my final exam week. Also, I still do not own Soul Eater.**

It was about 1:50am when Maka finally looked up from her textbook to realize that the library that had previously been inhabited was now completely abandoned and that Friday night had turned to Saturday morning. She checked her watch and wondered where the time had gone. She'd been working for the past six hours on her senior thesis, constantly skimming books, cross-referencing articles, and writing notes. Her professor, Dr. Stein, was merciless when it came to grading and she didn't intend to disappoint. She did however realize that if she planned to finish her last few pages of notes for the night, she was going to need some caffeine. She stood up and walked through Death City University's vast library, targeting the vending machines near the back of the building. She paused as she heard a muted banging.

 _Thump._ There it was again. Either the lack of sleep had gotten to her or the library wasn't as empty as she thought. She continued her trek for a soda and stopped dead in front of the vending machines. Standing before her was a boy in disheveled clothing, wrinkled hoodie pulled over his head. Said boy's head was thumping rhythmically against the plexiglass of the snack machine. She could hear him muttering something about 'how much he needed his fruit snackies'. _Okay then,_ maybe she wasn't the one who had lost it. She cautiously approached the drink machine next to him, intentionally making her footsteps loud to alert him of her presence. He jolted away from the machine and turned to her in surprise.

Now that she could see his face, particularly his eyes and hair which were burgundy and white respectively, she recognized him as someone she shared her creative writing class with. _Soul_ , she was pretty sure that was his name. They never spoke in class, but she had enjoyed the pieces he had written. Dark and twisted as they were, they seemed to speak to her.

She gave him a small wave when she reached him. "Hey, uh, Soul is it?" she asked as she dug out some change from her pocket. He looked at her wearily.

"Oh hey. And yeah, Soul," he answered as his gaze narrowed and he gave her a contemplative look. "We have creative writing together. It's Maka, right?" he inquired.

She nodded her confirmation before reaching down to grab her drink and twisting the cap off to take a big chug of it, sighing when the sugar and caffeine entered her system.

"So, what are you doing here?" she questioned, looking between him and the snack vendor, "I mean, besides picking a fight with an inanimate object."

He flushed a little but gestured helplessly toward the inside of the machine. Maka peered closer and immediately saw the problem.

"I was so hungry and I just wanted some fruit snacks, but the damn bag got stuck and I'm out of money. On top of that, I'm nowhere near being done with my work, and campus dining is closed anyway," he grumbled, visibly deflating with every word.

"Fruit snacks, huh? Follow me real quick," she said, turning away and heading back toward her sprawl of homework. Soul gave the vending machine a last look before following after her. By the time he caught up to her, she was fishing something out of her bag.

"Here!" she held out a bag similar to the one stuck in the machine. Soul immediately began to drool but attempted to show some restraint.

"Uhm, are you sure?" he asked. "I'd feel bad about taking them if you want them."

She waved him off and gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about it. My roommate always manages to slip a snack into my backpack when she knows I'll be in the library for a while. I'm not all that hungry so help yourself."

He looked at her as if she was handing him salvation itself as opposed to just a cheaply manufactured bag of fruit flavored sugar. He graciously took the packet from her hands, his gaze meeting hers in a way that made her stomach flip just a little.

"Seriously, thanks for the snack," he grinned at her before turning away and walking back to his own stack of work, "See you around, Maka."

"Yeah, later Soul," she called to his retreating figure.

The encounter left her alert and jittery, but she merely passed it off as the caffeine taking effect. Besides, there was no reason for her to feel such a rush talking to a classmate she barely knew. Even if he was mildly attractive…

Her thoughts screeched to halt and she shook her head hard enough for her pigtails to slap at her blushing cheeks. She was obviously delirious from stress and lack of sleep, she needed to finish up her work and then go craw into bed for a few days. Maybe that would appease her brain and make it function properly again.

She worked diligently for another hour and finished reviewing her progress right as her sugar high began to wear off. She packed up her belongings and trudged toward the exit. Right before she reached the door she could have sworn she glimpsed white hair between the long rows of reference books. As she stepped outside, even the cold night air could not remove the heat fully from her face. _Yeah, she really needed some sleep._

The rest of her weekend passed uneventfully, filled with periods of sleep between homework and meals with her roommate, Tsubaki, _and_ her roommate's loudmouth boyfriend, Black*Star. By Sunday night she felt satisfied with her thesis and amount of sleep. She had even managed to mostly forget her strange encounter with Soul. That is, up until she walked into her Monday morning lecture, aka creative writing. Upon entering, she found a bag of fruit snacks placed in the center of her usual desk. Dumbfounded she twisted in her seat and looked over a few rows over to find Soul smirking at her. She gave a tentative smile before facing forward again and started to slip the snack into her bag when she noticed a small sticky note attached to the back of it. She deciphered the scrawl as saying 'thank you' and then some numbers. About the amount that would make up a telephone number. _Oh_. Her brain felt like it blew a fuse before shifting into overdrive. She tried to subtly glance over at him but he seemed to be fiddling with his i-pod, though she was sure his face was dusted pink. Taking a deep breath she willed herself be composed before she grabbed her phone and pressed the 'add contact' key.

Silently, she gave her first and only thanks to the ridiculous amount of work that kept her in the library so late.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater or any of the characters.**

Maka collapsed down on the sofa with a groan. She was so exhausted that she didn't even complain when Soul fell on top of her while attempting to drape his body over the couch. They both lounged in silence for a minute before simultaneously releasing a sigh. Soul broke the silence first, voice muffled from his arm which was slung over his face.

"We are never, _ever_ doing that again."

Maka let her head roll to the side so she could look down at him.

"Come on Soul, babysitting was not _that_ bad. You're being melodramatic," she argued weakly, knowing full well that is really was _that_ bad.

"Pft, yeah right. On a scale of one to ten, how tired are you right now?" he asked, moving his arm away from his face.

 _Seventy at least_ , she though with a sigh. He grinned smugly at her silence.

"Point taken," she muttered.

For once, Soul really wasn't being overly dramatic, babysitting for Black*Star and Tsubaki had been one of the hardest, most tiring experiences she had been through, and that included hunting kishin eggs.

Maka made a face, "Poor Tsubaki, I feel so bad that she has to deal with _that_ every day."

Soul mimicked the pinched up expression she wore.

"Yeah, but it's her fault that she wanted to have kids with that hyperactive idiot."

It was true, Black*Star and Tsubaki had quickly become engaged and then married after the battle on the moon. The entire gang was delighted to find out that they were expecting twins several months later, Kid had even cried at the prospect of perfect symmetry. Unfortunately for him, they were born fraternal twins. One, a boy they named Red*Star, and a girl named Blue*Star. They didn't look much alike, but they definitely shared the same personality and it was scarily akin to their father's boisterous attitude. Now, with both at the age of four, Tsubaki finally had a meltdown which resulted in Black*Star swiftly proposing a vacation to soothe his frazzled wife.

They had called upon the twins' favorite aunt and uncle to babysit for a few days so Tsubaki could recuperate. Maka had been really excited at first, and she had suspected that Soul was secretly happy as well. They had started dating not long after the twins were born and babysitting gave them something to do as a couple. The experience probably would have been great if the kids had been normal and _not_ the spawn of Black*Star.

Not that the children themselves were bad, they were actually quiet sweet. They just had a tendency to be loud. And clumsy. And horrible at following directions. Five days of rambunctious twins had worn Maka and Soul down to the bones.

It was only 7:30 at night and Maka was ready to throw in the towel and go to sleep.

"Move your legs, I'm going to go change and then sleep for a few months," she half joked.

Soul let out a cross between a grunt and a sigh as he slowly pulled his legs off her one by one. Maka stood up stiffly, her spine popping as she stretched. She stared down at her boyfriend as he put his legs back in her spot, his eyes closing.

"Don't fall asleep there, you'll mess up your back again," she said, walking to her room.

She changed into comfy shorts and one of Soul's shirts and leaned out of her doorway, peering into the living room where Soul was still draped over the couch.

" _Soul,_ " she warned. She heard him shuffle and start to get up, probably more because he didn't want to be chopped than to save his back some pain.

He walked past her to his room and she followed, dropping on to his bed while he changed. He stripped off his shirt and exchanged jeans for pajama pants. She normally would have found this sexy, but she had already settled under the covers and her eyes were starting to droop.

Soul turned off the lights and dropped onto the bed beside her and settled his arm over her shoulder. She wondered sleepily when their relationship had become so comfortable. She smiled a bit, it was nice and it had slowly torn down the wall her cheating papa had built during her younger years.

"Good night, Soul," she muttered into the darkness.

"Mm, g'night," he said, already more than half asleep, with Maka not far behind.

It was barely dawn when Maka woke up with a start. The filtered light cast over her boyfriend in a serene way that she would have liked to enjoy it if she wasn't so blindingly nauseated. She tried to get out of bed quietly without disturbing her sleeping partner. She had just disengaged his arm from her torso when her churning stomach took priority over Soul's sleep. She flung the covers off and made a dash to the bathroom before emptying her stomach. Her elbows rested on the cool porcelain edge and her hands supported her head as she willed the nausea away.

"Hey, you okay?" a groggy Soul asked from the doorway. She turned her head meekly toward him, his eyes were clouded with sleep but concern seemed to be battling its way onto his face. She opened her mouth to answer but she felt the bile rise in her throat. As she continued to be sick Soul crouched behind her to pull her hair away from her face and rub soothing circles on her back. After a few minutes when her nausea subsided and she was sure her stomach was totally empty, she flushed the toilet and took the cup of water Soul was handing her. Once she had washed the awful taste from her mouth she sighed and apologized for waking him up. He shook his head.

"No big deal. What do you think all that was from?" he asked as he put his hand over her forehead. "You don't feel like you have a fever."

"Maybe I just ate something bad…the kids did make us eat their 'special breakfast'," Maka reasoned with a grimace. The thought of half cooked pancakes covered in toppings that should not accompany pancakes made her feel sick all over again. Soul must have seen her face pale and picked up on it too.

"Don't think about that, you'll make yourself throw up again. Still, I ate those too and I'm okay," Soul said.

Maka raised a skeptical brow at him.

"You sir, have a freaking iron stomach, you could eat the entire fridge and be fine," she accused with a glare.

He shrugged at her and then took her hand to lead her back to his room. He settled her back on the bed and pulled the comforter over her.

"Maybe some more sleep will help," he said while climbing over her to his side of the bed. He stroked her hair until she could feel the tiredness wash over her. She smiled and wiggled closer to him.

"Thanks Soul," she mumbled into his chest.

Four days. Four days and she was still getting sick and it was really starting to grate on her nerves.

"Sorry to cancel on you Tsu, I was really looking forward to having breakfast with you. I just can't seem to kick this damn stomach bug," Maka said into the phone cradled between her ear and shoulder. She was sitting in the bathroom with her back against the tub, still fighting some lingering nausea.

"I'm so sorry Maka. Have you gone to Stein yet," Tsubaki's anxious voice intoned over the phone.

"That's the thing, I get so sick in the morning and by the time I start to go see Stein I feel completely better for the rest of the day."

"Only the morning…" Tsubaki trailed thoughtfully.

"Tsu?" Maka asked after a few moments of silence.

"Oh, nothing!" she exclaimed followed by a nervous laugh. Suddenly Maka could then hear the twins yelling in the background about breakfast.

"Sorry Maka, I have to go. I hope you feel better!" Tsubaki rushed as the volume of the twins intensified.

"Thanks, I'll talk to you soon," Maka said before hanging up the phone and putting it by her side. She wondered if she could leave the bathroom long enough to get dressed before the next wave of nausea hit. As soon as she stood up she felt sick again and wretched over the toilet. She was glad Soul had a Death Scythe meeting with Kid this morning, he was really starting to worry over her. Hopefully she would feel better before he got back and she could tell him that she'd been fine. Not that she _wanted_ to lie to him but she rather not get him too worked up over this.

She had just flushed down the evidence when Blair walked by the door in her cat form. She paused mid-step and looked inside.

"Still sick huh, Maka?" Blair asked sympathetically.

"A bit, but I think it's passed for now. How weird that it has only been happening in the morning," she mused as she filled a cup with water.

Blair seemed to freeze for a second before a wicked grin that only a feline could achieve appeared on her face.

" _Ohhh, kitten_ ," Blair chuckled as she padded toward the sink. "Blair thought this might happen at some point but she didn't think her kittens would be so clueless!"

She continued to laugh as she pawed open the cabinet under the sink and slinked inside making a few rustling noises.

"What do you mean? What exactly did you think would happen?" Maka questioned, confused as to why Blair seemed so smug and amused all the sudden.

The cat reappeared with a small plastic package in her mouth and dropped the item at Maka's feet.

" _This_ might help explain a few things," she said slyly. She turned with a flick of her tail. "Blair-chan has to go out for a bit, bye Maka!" she finished cheerily before walking out of the bathroom.

Maka glanced at the pink plastic wrapped object at her feet wondering if that was what she thought it was.

"Wait Blair! Th-this is. Why would you…How did you…?" Maka stumbled over her words with a surmounting feeling of dread. Blair turned around with her cat-like smile.

"Nya, Blair can guess what her kittens are doing behind closed doors," she said with a wink before she jumped onto the window sill and disappeared outside.

Maka flushed several shades of red and gaped at the pregnancy test before her. She slowly sank to her knees in front of it trying to convince herself that Blair had it all wrong, that this morning nausea was a fluke. Still, deep down, she had a clear idea of how this was probably going to play out. She stood back up on shaky legs and opened the wrapper with even shakier hands. She scolded herself, she had helped bring down the freaking kishin, she shouldn't be afraid of a tiny stick.

It had been two minutes and Maka was sure she was going to explode, why did these things have to take so long?! She was about to peek at the test again when the door to the apartment opened.

"Maka, I'm back," Soul called from the living room, "And I picked up some soup if your stomach is still bothering you."

Maka stiffened. _Crap_. She hadn't even grasped this situation herself and she had no idea how she was going to relay it to Soul. The shuffling from the kitchen stopped.

"Maka?" he called out with a touch of concern in his voice.

She started to call out to him but something caught her eye that fully immobilized her. Soul's steps sounded in the hallway and he was soon standing in the entrance to their small bathroom. He sighed in relief.

"Jeez, you had me going there for a minute bookworm. You didn't answer when I came in, everything okay?" he asked. Sitting on the edge of the bathtub she made no move to answer him. She was starting to freak him out and he gave her a more thorough once over. She didn't look injured but suddenly a tear slipped down her face.

"Oi, Maka! What's wrong? Does something hurt, do we need to go to Stein?" his hands started to flutter around her, not knowing where to place them in case she was in pain. This seemed to snap her back to attention. She raised her hand to wipe away the tear that had made its way to her cheek without permission.

"Soul," she whispered. His hands stilled in the air around her.

"Yes?" he asked a little too loudly, completely alert and ready to spring to action if she gave the word.

"Soul, I'm-" she faltered, still staring at the object pinched between her thumb and index finger.

He finally followed her line of sight to the small stick in her hand. He sucked in a breath and she could practically hear the gears turning in his head just as they had been in hers several minutes ago. He placed a warm hand over her free one.

"What-" he gulped and continued quietly, "What do two lines mean?"

"It means…means that I'm pregnant," the words sounded heavy and awkward on her tongue.

They both looked up and their eyes locked. A beat of silence and Soul broke out into the biggest and dopiest grin that Maka had seen from him. Excitement shone brightly in his viridian eyes and for some reason that did in the last restraint over her emotions. Her lip trembled followed by tears making their way down her red cheeks.

"Hey, hey! Maka, what's wrong? Aren't you happy?" he was quick to wipe away the moisture on her face with his thumb.

She let out a laugh that sounded strangled through the crying. She leaned her head into the juncture of his shoulder.

"Of course I am, but it happened so fast it also makes me feel terrified," she admitted softly. She felt Soul start to run his fingers through her hair as a comforting gesture. Maka heard him let out a low whistle.

"Wow, I never thought I'd see that day Maka Albarn admits that she is scared," he teased in mock seriousness. Even though her punch hardly had any effort behind it, Soul still had to rub his arm as he winced. "Seriously, what is there for you to be afraid of? You know I'll be right here for you the entire time," he attempted to assuage her worry.

"I know, I know, it's just- just, I'm growing something inside of me! What if I'm not ready, what if I don't do a good job? I have no idea how to be a mother and I'll probably screw up and then it will resent me for the rest of its life, and- and," she paused as something bigger occurred to her. Her eyes widened as she pushed out of Soul's arms only to grab his collar and pull him so close their noses almost touched.

"Oh my Death, what if they are like the twins?" she hissed in panic.

Whether it was this new revelation or Maka's anxiety ridden rant, Soul actually faltered for half a second. The silence was soon replaced by his laughter though and his shoulders shook with the force under Maka's grip. When she socked him in the arm this time it held some warning that he was treading on thin ice.

"Ow, I'm sorry!" he said even though he was still grinning. "You just think too much is all, nerd. First of all, there is no way a cool guy like me will have kids like Black*Star's."

Maka had to giggle a little bit, Soul hadn't pulled the 'cool' card since their early teenage years.

"And second," he continued with a soft smile reserved for only her, "You will be a terrific mother. Heck, you've been taking care of me for years, it really can't be that different."

Maka took a careful look at the man smiling down at her with unwavering tenderness. It strengthened her resolve and eased her apprehension. She pulled him into a tight hug because she didn't know how she could end up with someone as good as him. She felt him whisper his love for her against her ear. Suddenly an idea flitted through her head and she grinned mischievously against his neck.

"I love you too…and since you are so confident about this whole thing, I suppose you have no problem breaking this to my Papa."

"Shit."

 **I'm finally back! I am so sorry about the late update, writers block and participating in the adult world has been holding me up. Hopefully this isn't too bad, but editing was done at an obscene time of the morning. As always, thank you to everyone reading and giving feedback, I really appreciate it!**


	8. Chapter 8

He was staring at her again, that jackass. Even with her back turned Maka could feel his eyes and grin pointed in her direction with an air of smug satisfaction. She took a deep breath in to quell her irritation and finished shaking rainbow colored sprinkles over a cup of ice cream. She stabbed a spoon a bit too forcefully into the mix and plastered on a large smile as she turned back around to hand the bowl to a young girl. She focused all her attention on making change and handing it back to the girl's mother but still managed to snag a glance at him from across the mall, and sure enough that bastard _was_ smirking at her! The mother daughter duo thanked her and left, giving her an open view of the rival ice cream store front that resided almost directly in front of her. He was giving a suggestive side glance to the small line that was formed at his counter. She almost growled but settled for a biting glare and subtly flipping him the bird. He laughed and went back to finishing whatever the hell he was supposed to be making. He'd had gotten thirty-six customers since the start of their shift and she'd only managed thirty-two so far and time was nearly up.

Who even thought it was a good idea to put two ice cream shops right next to each other in one of the largest shopping centers in the state? Death City Mall was ginormous, they could have put him literally _anywhere_ else. But no, he was right across from her almost every single shift that she worked while trying to earn enough money to put herself through college. She swiped the counter clean with a rag and remembered the exact day he started to torture her very existence. She had been working at Marie's Ice Cream Shop for nearly two months before a new employee had showed up over at Death Creamery. It wasn't so bad at first. He was cute in an interesting way with his white spiked hair and red eyes, and he always came in to work with a black leather jacket and band T-shirt before switching to the colorful staff uniform. She wondered why a guy like that was scooping ice cream into waffle cones when he looked like he should be working in a music store or hot topic, someplace cool. It was two days in and business was slow like it occasionally got toward the end of her shift. Maka was trying to figure the new guy out like he was some sort of puzzle (and maybe checking out his muscles as he was scooping ice cream, who's to say?) but when he caught her staring at him, _that's_ when it all went downhill. He smirked at her, smirked! She had adverted her gaze with flaming cheeks and his mouth split into a full on shit eating grin. After that he was always looking over and smirking at her. If that wasn't bad enough, he had started trying to up show her. She'd make an ice cream cone, he'd scoop an even bigger one. She would serve ten people in an hour, he'd serve twelve. She would make $7.66 in tips, he'd make an eight bucks even. It was absolutely infuriating and she was sure he was cheating somehow. But she had to admit that it was also what made work interesting and it exercised her competitive spirit. They had never talked directly, but between their competitions they had silent conversations using hand gestures and over exaggerated mouth movements. Sometimes they wrote on napkins but since that had limited space they were mostly used to keep score. In fact, right now his store front was finally empty and he was holding up a napkin that had ' **41** ' boldly written in his scrawl for her to see. She couldn't believe he had gotten so far ahead of her, they'd been tied three hours ago. She scowled at him and mouthed 'cheater' at him. He grinned and picked up a few dozen receipt copies and waved them around in a taunting manner. _Damn it_. Her eyes narrowed further and she half hoped the frozen yogurt machine would fall on him.

"Oh my gosh, would you _please_ go flirt with him for real, the suspense is gonna kill me," a voice whined. Maka whipped her head over to where Liz was leaning her elbows over her counter. Liz was one of her best friends who worked a cellphone-case kiosk in the mall and also happened to go to DCU with her. Even so, friendship didn't grant her amnesty from Liz's merciless teasing. She grimaced and willed away the flush in her cheeks before the other blonde could take notice.

"I told you it's not like that," she muttered, not bothering to keep the irritation out of her voice. She slipped her apron off over her head. "Anyway are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, yeah, 'Soul is just a guy I compete with and I don't stare at him at all'," Liz mocked in a horrid imitation of her voice. "Tomorrow _is_ Valentine's Day, maybe you'll realize you wanna jump his- Ow!" she was promptly cut off with a pinch to the arm.

"Sshhh," Maka hissed as she looked across the mall. Finding that Soul had disappeared to the back, probably because he was finished with work too, she turned back to Liz.

"First, I don't want to jump anyone's anything. Second, don't say his name!"

She really didn't want it to get out that she knew his name. In fact, the only reason she knew it was because she had asked Liz to do some recon work for her. That had cost her a trip to the salon to treat her friend to a manicure which was too expensive for this to blow up in her face.

Liz made a pouting face as Maka locked the shop up and then walked around to the front of the counter.

"Fine, be that way," and then added as an afterthought, "Oh, I have to pick up Patty tomorrow so I won't be able to take you back to campus. Will you be able to get a ride okay?"

Maka nodded her assent. She didn't want to, but she could always ask her papa. He'd been wanting to take her out for Valentine's anyway. She gave a parting glance to Death Creamery as she and Liz headed out and returned a wave to Soul who had reemerged.

"Bones. You're going to jump his bones," Liz grumbled and smoothly dodged another pinch.

The next day, Maka's shift went without a hitch. Lots of lovey dovey customers tipped her decently either for her good service or because they were too busy making puppy dog eyes at each other to notice (she was willing to bet it was the latter). No one complained to her or gave her a hard time (also likely due to puppy dog eyes). The icing on the cake was that she'd had nearly twice the amount of customers Soul had gotten. Right before closing her counter was free of customers so she scribbled a large '64' on to a napkin in neat script. She watched Soul make a face at her. She had kept a careful watch on his score and it came to a sad thirty-five. She shot him a cheeky grin before starting her close up routine. When the floors had been swept and the register cleared she leaned on the counter and pulled out her phone. Her papa should have been there by now but maybe he was stuck in traffic. Dialing her papa's number she expected to be greeted with a loud assault of apologies for being late but she was far off base. At first there was just shuffling, what you'd expect from someone who pocket dialed you, but the static was cut by a wanton moan in the background. What seemed to be a drunken female voice sounded again with proclamations of love mixed in with her papa's name. Maka tried to hang up the phone, she really did, but it was like turning away from a car crash, sometimes you just had to see it through no matter how bad it looked. Her mind raced through a dozen possibilities as she stood frozen outside the ice cream shop. _His phone was stolen. She had dialed the wrong number. This was a prank._ But she knew that none of those possibilities were true. His past indiscretions told her exactly what was going on. She was about to get angry, to speak up so they could hear her through the phone and give them a verbal lashing. Before she could though, a deep male voice spoke, definitely her papa's voice.

"Baby, you know y're my favorite. My favorite girl," he slurred out in a husky voice.

 _Favorite girl_. That name was reserved countless times for her. Stung, she dropped the phone from her ear. She pressed the 'end' button her phone and the continued moans cut off abruptly. She tried to take a deep breath in. Her papa had screwed up plenty of times before, this one shouldn't make anymore the difference. But it did, and her breath felt choked and her eyes blurred around the bottom edges. She became quickly aware that Soul was looking at her. Concern was expressed through his knit brows and frown. He silently mouthed "you okay?" at her. She hoped the small distance masked that her smile was wobbly and her eyes wet. She gave him a thumbs up before stiffly turning back in the shop and walking quickly to the staff room in the very back. She pulled her phone out again, she'd have to infringe on Liz and ask if she could come get her. Despite her giving Maka a hard time about romance she was fiercely protective and would drop any plans to come get her if she needed. The tears started to fall on their own accord as she opened up her friend's contact. She hiccupped a little cry and leaned against the wall, tilting her head up in hopes that the water would just drain back into her eyes instead of out. A few more lone tears escaped nonetheless and rolled down her cheeks to fall silently on the ground.

"Hey," a quiet voice intoned from the doorway. Maka startled from the wall swiping at her face to remove evidence of her breakdown. She didn't have to look to know who was there. Even though she'd never heard his voice before, there was only one person who would come check on her right now.

"Oh hey!" she forced her voice to sound cheery. "I just came back cause, uh. I forgot my…purse?"

She winced, she'd always been bad at lying but this took the cake. She didn't even own a purse.

Soul rose a pale brow and gave a look around but didn't comment.

"Right…" he hesitated and ran his hand through his hair, "Seriously though, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just need to call Liz to come pick me up," she managed a small smile though she mentally berated herself because he probably didn't know who Liz was. Had the phone call destroyed her brain that much? It wouldn't shock her if it had.

"Oh," he looked a little surprised, "I thought your dad was supposed to pick you up tonight?"

She grimaced at the unintentional salt poured into her fresh wound.

"He was-" Maka narrowed her gaze at him. "Wait, how the hell do you know that?"

Soul seemed to realize his error because he stiffened and turned pale before transitioning to red.

"Uhhhhh," he looked to be stalling while trying to think of a decent answer, his eyes directed at the ceiling. Maka might have found this amusing but, cute boy or not, it was kind of creepy.

"Well, I, uh…I may or may not have music theory with Liz; and I may or may not have asked her some questions about you in exchange for the answers to the homework," he mumbled, looking like he wanted to melt into the floor.

He leveled his gaze back on her and caught her surprised expression which appeared to be morphing into anger, he held up his hands in defense.

"But I swear I'm not a stalker or anything! I just saw her talking to you and I recognized her in my class. I just wanted to know your name the first time, but then Liz kept forgetting her homework and said she'd answer more questions about you if I let her copy mine," he rushed, a steady flush held on his cheeks.

Maka had long since stopped listening and she felt bad because Soul probably misinterpreted her anger as being directed at him when it was really at Liz. Her friend had never mentioned she shared a class with Soul, nonetheless that she was soliciting her information for homework answers. Liz was only supposed to gather information for her, to think that she'd been double crossed. On second thought, it really wasn't all that surprising. Liz loved to meddle in things, especially when she thought it might involve romance.

As Soul finished off his rant with several apologies Maka sighed.

"No, no, that sounds just like Liz. You don't need to apologize," she said wearily.

This night was throwing her for a loop and she needed some reality TV and unhealthy snacks to stabilize her pronto.

They sat in awkward silence for a moment.

"Uh, anyway, I'm going to call Liz for a ride back. You don't have to stick around; I'll be perfectly fine, I appreciate the concern though," she broke the quiet and gave him the first genuine smile since he'd found her.

"I'll take you back to campus," he blurted out, catching her off guard. He seemed a bit surprised at his outburst as well.

There were a lot of reasons she should say no. One of them being that she would miss a chance to chew out Liz in private. Another being that she'd only had one real conversation with him and she'd hate to impose on a stranger (even if she silently reminded herself that he wasn't a total stranger). The biggest reason though, was that he was a male. And though she'd never admit it out loud, it was a male that she had a half-baked crush on none-the-less. Men were liars and cheaters and having feelings for one would only cause complications and heartbreak. Her father had proven that to her more than enough times, tonight included.

 _Still_ , it would be easiest to catch a ride back with Soul, he was probably going back to DCU anyways. At least, that is what her mind told her, her heart was in it for more dangerous feelings related reasons.

 _Just politely turn him down and call Liz_ , she told herself.

"That'd be great, as long as I'm not imposing," she said. A string of curses flew through her brain, what the hell was wrong with her? She had to resist the urge to bang her head into the wall, least it make her come across as even more crazy.

"It's no problem, I have to pass campus to get to my apartment anyway," Soul grinned at her and she had to pretend that it didn't make her knees a little wobbly.

He led the way out of the store and after locking up for the second time that night, they headed toward the parking lot together.

The street lights outside just flicked to life as they reached Soul's ride.

"Uhm, what is _that_?" silently praying that it wasn't what she thought it was.

Soul looked over his shoulder at her.

"A motorcycle?" he raised an eyebrow at her.

"Please tell me that is not yours," she said, suddenly feeling like this was a bad idea all over again.

"' _That'_ , as you call her, is my baby," Soul smirked, looking like he thought he was hot stuff. Maka frowned, no way in hell would she get on that death trap.

It took five more minutes of arguing, but somehow Maka ended up sitting on the bike behind him, a pensive look on her face as she pouted. _Damn him_ , _damn him and his stupid motorcycle_. The thing roared to life under her and she flinched. Soul shouted something about holding on before making the bike lurch forward. She shrieked and her hands flew around his waist instinctually. Maka was almost completely sure that she could hear him laughing over the sound of the wind. She had to admit that hugging him felt nice and even after she caught her balance, she left her arms in place just for the hell of it. He sped through town (okay, maybe it just felt like he was speeding to her) towards campus and he had pulled up in front of her dorm in almost no time.

She took a shaky step off, not even caring that she was using his shoulder as support. He looked pleased with himself, though about what she wasn't sure…maybe trying to scare her to death.

"Thanks for the, uh, ride," she said, giving his 'baby' another once over.

He ran a hand through his windblown hair. He actually looked pretty cool sitting there.

"Anytime," he replied, looking around awkwardly.

"So," she paused, his unease rubbing off on her, "I'll see you at work."

"Yeah," he said quietly and revved the bike back on.

She turned to the entrance of the dorm before looking back at him.

"Out of curiosity," she hesitated, wondering if she should continue before taking the plunge. "What exactly did you ask Liz that would prompt her to tell you my papa was picking me up tonight?"

Not for the first time today, he looked like he wanted to disappear for her asking more than he was willing to reveal.

"So not cool," he muttered under his breath, and then in a shy voice, "Ah well, I wanted to know if she thought it'd be worth me asking you out on a date tonight. But she said Valentine's Day wasn't up your ally and that your dad was taking you out, so I decided not to say anything."

His blush was apparent even in the darkness of the night. Maka thought it was kind of cute and she suddenly pushed back all of her guy related fears as she made a choice.

"I'm going to go watch Cupcake Wars and eat Doritos in my room if you want to join me?" she asked boldly, despite the heat spreading up her face to match Soul.

"Cupcake Wars, really?" he asked sarcastically but his face looked relieved and his shoulders relaxed.

"Yeah really, do you want to come or not?" she huffed indignantly at him, turning away again and walking toward the door.

"Oh. Yeah, sure. Yeah. Crap, let me park this thing first!" he stumbled out to her as she opened the front door.

It turned out that watching TV curled up on her futon with Soul was almost as fun as competing with him at work, even if he teased her just as much. That is until Liz poked her head in a few hours later and wiggled her eyebrows at Maka suggestively.

"I'm glad you won't have me creeping on him anymore," she grinned and left with a wink. Leaving a very embarrassed Maka with her jaw hanging open and a very amused Soul.

 **Disclaimer: As usual, I don't own Soul Eater or the characters. I also do not own Cupcake Wars or Doritos.**

 **Hi guys! I** ** _finally_** **finished this piece! I've been working on it so long I didn't even edit it to the best of my ability, so for that I apologize. I have a whole bunch of other one shots started and hopefully they won't take as long as this one to post. Thank you to everyone reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

He was really drunk, and to be honest, Maka was not enjoying it nearly as much as she thought she would. Because, even though Soul turned out to be a fun drunk, he was equally heavy leaning against her shoulder as she attempted to drag him home from the bar he and Black*Star had snuck into. He wouldn't use those stupid legs of his to help her out at all. Instead, he opted to sing Disney songs to the quiet residents of their apartment complex she was currently pulling him through. Finally, she reached the door and it was a struggle just to keep her partner upright as she dug out the key.

"Makaaa, hey! Hey, hey, Maka!" he slurred with a dopey grin on his face. He pulled gently on a pigtail when she ignored him in favor of jiggling the tricky door handle.

"What, Soul?" she bit out, shoulder checking the door open and somehow managing to get both of them inside before closing the door and locking it again. He paused in thought as she managed to drag him the last few feet to the couch.

He remained silent and seemed to be trying really hard to remember what he was going to say. His eyes were narrowed and his tongue stuck out in intense concentration. Maka stifled a laugh at his face, then remembered she was mad at him and let him drop to the couch. She wasn't sure if it was the amount of time he had to think, or being dropped on the couch like a sack of potatoes that jogged his memory but his face suddenly lit up with remembrance.

"Maka, Maka, heeyyyy! Hey, I wanna tell ya som'in. 'S really important," he said with a dead serious expression. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"It better not be another Death damned Disney song, Soul," she warned.

He continued to give her a grave stare before dissolving into giggles. That's right, _giggles_. At this point, Maka was sure he was going to be a real pain in the ass until he passed out. Then an idea struck her and she had to hold back a smirk, not that Soul would have noticed in his inebriated state.

"I'll be right back Soul. I'm going to get you a drink," she said as she walked toward the kitchen. It wasn't a complete lie, she was getting him water, but she also snagged their seldom used camcorder from her room.

Upon her return, she handed the glass to a still chuckling Soul and threatened to chop him if he spilled it. She also turned the video recorder on and pointed it at him.

"Okay Soul, what did you want to tell me that was _so_ important?" she prodded, hoping she could get some good blackmail material out of this. Maybe it could be used as leverage to get him to never drink again. Ever.

"Ohhhh, right, right. It was 'portant," he said, and she had to roll her eyes at his garbled speech.

His face took on another serious look and he took in a deep breath. For a split second, Maka thought he might actually have something meaningful to say but then, he opened his mouth and that dream was shattered.

"Caaaannnn you feel the love t'night~," Soul started to belt out in the way only a drunk could pull off. "Somethin' somethin' in perfect harmony, and some other words," he continued, forgetting the words but managing to keep up the tune.

Maka snickered as Soul carried on valiantly and also picked up the TV remote to use as a microphone. He made it halfway through before he seemed to forget the words entirely and just trailed off.

"Is that the important thing you needed to tell me?" she asked, trying to keep the laughter out of her voice but failing horribly, the camera still trained on his swaying form.

"No wait. I need ta tell you, the song is 'bout us, I'm the king of the lions and you're the pretty girl lion. And after the song, we defeat the bad guy and then get married and have baby lions!" Soul grinned at her cheekily.

Maka let out a strangled noise and felt her face heat up. That one sure came out of the left field.

"O-oh, really?" she managed to choke out. Soul looked at her and nodded solemnly.

"Yeah, cause I love her. But don't tell Maka, _I_ gotta tell her," he whispered, somehow managing to forget who he was having this conversation with. Maka was torn between face palming and letting her jaw drop. She ended up staring straight faced at him, processing his drunken words.

It was true that they'd been dancing on the line between partners/friends and something more for a while now. She'd come to terms with her own feelings and lingering nervousness was the only thing that kept her waiting for him to make a move. But to think he'd say it so bluntly…and be so drunk he didn't even realize he was talking to her. Maybe she should take this as an opportunity to practice telling him her own feelings, she highly doubted that he'd remember in the morning. Steeling herself, she set the camcorder down on the coffee table and moved to sit on the couch next to him.

"I- I love you too, Soul," she said, blushing madly all the while. Soul looked at her with glazed eyes and a tired smile.

"Cool, that's cool. Think I wanna go to bed now," he mumbled and let his eyes droop. Maka rolled her eyes, of course when she confessed to him he would pass it off with a 'cool'. She started to loop an arm under his shoulder when she noticed the little green light blinking on her camera.

"Shit," she hissed, realizing that it was pointed at them and had been recording the whole time. She turned it off for good and pulled Soul to his bed. By the time she had taken off his shoes, covered him with a blanket and left water and aspirin by his bed, he was out cold. Afterwards, she carefully buried the camera in the back of her closet behind old books. Maybe she could figure out a way to cut out that last bit so he would be the only one embarrassing himself in the video. She decided to leave that for later though, she was exhausted and even the anxiety of Soul remembering their conversation couldn't keep her eyes from closing within minutes.

In the morning, Maka was relieved (and to be honest, a little disappointed) to find that Soul couldn't recall anything past his third beer and fifth shot of liquor. He was thoroughly confused when she called him king of the lions and laughed so hard at his blank look that tears leaked at the sides of her eyes. He was so hungover he decided not to get into it and instead, ate the plain toast she put in front of him.

It wasn't until months later when he was digging through her closet, grumbling about her stealing all his damn sweatshirts that he stumbled across their old video recorder behind a stack of books. Sheer curiosity of why it was hidden back there made him turn it on and play the last recording. Once he finished willing the blood out of his cheeks before his face exploded, he grinned and decided maybe it was time to have another conversation, only sober this time.

Disclaimer: I don't own SE or Disney songs.

A/N: Finally had a moment to write this crack story down. Hopefully, once I finish applying to grad school and work calms down, I'll be able to update more frequently. Maybe I'll just become a professional fanfic writer instead, is that a thing? As always, thank you to everyone who R&Rs, and I hope you all have a great week :)


	10. Chapter 10

**This is the sequel to Chapter 7 (the pregnancy one). Enjoy!**

Soul stared up into the bright lights of the hospital and counted down the seconds until his doom. He could hear her voice in the hallway, asking a nurse for directions to his room. He cringed at the false sweetness in her voice that barely concealed the undercurrent of anger. It didn't help that he could feel her soul, flaring out and then contracting with her fury; and it was all directed at him. The door handle turned and Soul tried to sink into the bed further. Maybe if he pretended to be asleep she'd leave and let him let him live for a few more hours. _Crap_ , the door flew open and he knew it was too late. She swept in like a storm and he guessed if he had to perish at least he'd see her face before one of her books knocked him into oblivion. She carefully closed the door with a restraint that she hardly ever showed. He took it as a bad sign, it meant she was collecting every last ounce of anger she could muster before she let him have it. She let out a sigh and Soul realized he'd been holding his breath. Her eyes opened to glare at him icily.

"What _the hell_ were you thinking, Soul Evans?" she bit out while crossing her arms over her chest. She wasn't even yelling, but the tone of her voice made him flinch. She continued to glare at him and he realized she actually expected an answer before she chewed him out further. Finding no words, he just let his gaze drift down toward her stomach. He could barely even tell that it was slightly swollen, but he knew better. Maka followed his gaze down. Soul could see her shoulders droop as some of the anger left her.

"Don't you give me that," she said, keeping up a glare though her voice held half the malice it did before. She carefully sat down on the edge of his bed and unconsciously let her hand rest on the small swell of her abdomen. For a moment it became quiet as they stared at each other.

He looked her over carefully, taking inventory of noticeable injuries. She had a long but shallow cut across her temple and her knees were scraped and bloodied but otherwise she seemed physically fine. Even so, he could see the fatigue and worry hiding behind the anger in her eyes. Eyes which were currently mimicking his in making a mental checklist of where he was hurt and to what extent. He figured he looked a little worse for wear than her because her eyes roamed over him for a few extra moments.

"You have to stop this, Soul," she said quietly, eyes settled on a particularly nasty bruise that wasn't quite covered by his hospital gown.

His eyes hardened a bit, they were back at the age old argument of why he should or should not be allowed to protect her when a mission went south. In this case, a rouge witch using a low caliber kishin as bait. Neither of them could have predicted that happening. So what else was he supposed to do when her avian magic started to pulse razor sharp feathers at them. The first of the feathers was the cause of the shallow cut gracing Makas head. There was no way she could have blocked all of them when they started raining out of the sky so he had taken a few blows in his human form to make sure she he wasn't hit again. They also couldn't have predicted that each of those damn projectiles had small amounts of sedatives that could be lethal in a high enough dosage. He remembered transforming back into a scythe but everything else was blurry except Maka delivering the final blow. He had no memory of anything else until he had woken, bandaged and all patched up, to the blinding light of a local hospital where a nurse explained what had happened.

He sighed and slid his hand into hers, silently admiring the small gold band that recently started to adorn her ring finger.

"You know why I can't. It was one thing when it was just you but I need to, no, _we_ need to, make sure the baby comes first and foremost and that means keeping you safe too," he argued.

He wasn't sure why he had to explain this. Did she not get how anxious it made him to go on missions for fear of their safety? He scoffed internally, probably not, her stubbornness seemed to override things like fear and self-preservation.

He looked up from their intertwined hands to see Maka looking away with a mixture of guilt, sheepishness, and slight irritation. Oh Death, he realized in the wake of silence he said all of that out loud as well. The nurse had warned him the sedatives would probably linger in his system a few more hours but he didn't think it would make his thoughts tumble out of his mouth. He ran a hand nervously through his hair gauging her reaction.

She huffed a bit indignantly before looking at him again and he prepared to be concussed with whatever book she managed to stash on her person.

"You're right," she mumbled.

Wait, what? That sentence usually had a 'not' shoved into the middle of it. She seemed to take his wide eyed silence as permission to continue.

"I am too stubborn sometimes. I do know how much you worry about me and the baby so last week I asked Kidd to reassign us to desk duty," she went back to looking away guiltily, "but I figured we could take one more mission before we got stuck with paperwork."

Soul gave her a measured look before a soft smile appeared. So maybe she did understand after all.

"That was pretty cool of you, Maka," he gave her hand a little squeeze. She rolled her eyes at his choice of words but smiled a little anyway.

"Sorry about all this," she said loosely gesturing with her free hand to his body, a slight grimace on her face.

"It was probably better that we were sent seeing as a witch showed up," he said with a shrug, minding the stinging of his wounds, "who knows what would've happened to one star pair."

Maka leaned over and kissed his forehead, probably one of the only spots without a laceration, and he brought a hand up to brush across her cheek. They both paused suddenly, each feeling a feather light touch against their souls which had slipped into resonance at some point.

"Is that," Soul started to question breathlessly.

"That's the baby," Maka whispered equally awed.

Soul leaned back into the bed and, for the first time in the duration of Makas pregnancy, let himself relax. Lulled into deep comfort with his soul tingling at the sensation of two others that meant the world to him. He knew this wouldn't be easy or perfect, but they were going to be okay and that was all that mattered to him.

 **Thank you so much for reading!**


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